Vytautas Magnus University

Vaira Vike Freiberga

Garbės daktarė / Honorary Doctor (Suteiktas vardas 2001-12-18)

The President of the Republic of Latvia, Professor, and Habilitated Doctor Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, was awarded the regalia of VMU Honorary Doctor in 2001. Since the beginning of her term in 1999, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga strived to improve Latvian-Lithuanian relations and expand cooperation in the fields of science and culture by strengthening the Centre of Letonics at Vytautas Magnus University and the Centre for Lithuanian Studies at the University of Latvia.

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was born on 1 December 1937 in Riga. Forced by the war to move to the West, she studied in a Latvian refugee camp in Lübeck and later at the Casablanca French School in Morocco. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of Toronto in 1958 and 1960, respectively, and her doctorate in experimental psychology from McGill University in 1965.

From 1965 to 1998, she was a Professor of Psychology at the University of Montreal, where she taught courses in psycholinguistics, psychopharmacology, theory of science, language and cognition processes, history of psychology, and other subjects, and supervised undergraduate and PhD students. Since 1988, she has been a Professor Emerita at this university.

From 1980 to 1989, she served as a member, Vice-Chair, and Chair of the committees of the Science Council of Canada. In 1990, she became a full member of the Canadian Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, and in 1999, she became a full member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences.

From 1978 to 1981, she was the Canadian representative to the NATO Human Resources Programme and chaired the programme from 1979 to 1980. From 1980 to 1981, she served as President of the Canadian Psychological Association and the Canadian Federation of Social Sciences, and from 1984 to 1986, as President of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies.

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was actively involved in the social and cultural activities of the Latvian diaspora. From 1957, she worked in the Latvian-Canadian community as a youth educator and folklore specialist, addressing issues of Latvian identity and the survival of the nation in a foreign cultural environment.

In her senior positions of scientific leadership, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga researched cognitive processes, poetics, psycholinguistics, psychopharmacology, culture and ethnicity, history and politics of science, pedagogy, and mythology. She has published 7 books, over 160 scientific articles, and has given presentations at international conferences and symposia. After becoming the President of the Republic of Latvia, she published an article titled “The Sun and the Crown” in the 2001 volume of the international journal “Acta Baltica”, published by Vytautas Magnus University. This journal, recognised by the Latvian Council of Science​​​​​​​, was produced by the Centre of Letonics of Vytautas Magnus University, with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia in Lithuania, the Government of the Republic of Latvia, and the President herself.

For her scientific achievements, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has been awarded the Royal Society of Canada’s Pierre Chauveau Medal for her distinguished contribution to the humanities, the Marcel Vincent Award by the French-Canadian Association for the Advancement of Science for outstanding contributions to the social sciences, the Grand Medal of the Latvian Academy of Sciences for research on Latvian dainas, the Social Sciences Prize of the World Association of Free Latvians (Washington, D.C.) for distinguished work on Latvian dainas, and the Prof. Anna Abele Memorial Prize (USA) for research in Latvian philology (together with her husband, Imants Freibergs).

As a prominent politician and head of state, she has been awarded the highest state orders of Greece, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

In addition to VMU, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Latvia, the University of Victoria in Toronto, and Queen’s University at Kingston.

Based on information provided by VMU Library.